Monday, February 22, 2010

(Jerusalem 19.02.2010) - As described by town residents, Ha’aretz, Ma’an News, and other sources in recent days, Israeli soldiers and bulldozers arrived on February 10 at a family recreation park in Beit Sahour – a town slightly east of Bethlehem in the West Bank, and the site of the former army base Osh Grab, which was abandoned by the IDF in 2006 – and declared it a closed military zone.

Kairos Palestine condemns this action and calls upon churches worldwide to advocate for the Christians and all residents of Beit Sahour and intervene in the damage, present and projected, wrought upon their home.

Since 1967, Beit Sahour, one of the last Christian majority towns in the West Bank, has repeatedly lost land to the Jerusalem municipality and to the nearby settlement of Har Homa. Much of the remaining land was occupied by an Israeli military base, Osh Grab. After the army evacuated the base in 2006, the Beit Sahour municipality regained control of the land (although it has remained part of what Israel calls Area C, keeping it under harsh regulation by the Israeli State), renovated it, and built a recreational park and playground – the “Peace Park.”

Over time, fanatical Jewish settler groups have often threatened to take over the site, protested there as part of their aggressive claim as its “true” owners, and even physically vandalized the park, as they did last month. As it stands, Israel’s stated intention is to build a new watchtower: a troubling reassertion of a military presence in Beit Sahour. The other worry is that this could pave the way for a new settlement, which nearby settlers have been demanding for years. As Amira Hass writes in Ha’aretz, “The Beit Sahour residents have no reason to doubt either the settlers or the Har Homa neighborhood committee chairman, who declared that ‘This could become a reality, just as Har Homa spilled beyond what was planned and expected.’”

Either way, this new display of control on the part of the State – arriving with bulldozers, excavating the site around the park, prohibiting the entry of the Beit Sahour residents and various internationals who came to protest, declaring the land a closed military zone – is a grave affront. It is painful and unjust for some reasons of specific import to Christians (who form 80% of Beit Sahour); others are simply questions of humanity and legality, crucial for both Christians and Muslims.

First, the park area lies between two sacred sites: “Shepherds Field” and the place, as told in the Bible, where Boaz fell in love with Ruth. These are places of immense spiritual significance, and the State’s commandeering of the land is profoundly distressing. (As we wrote in the Kairos Document, “freedom of access to the holy places is denied under the pretext of security.”) Second, the takeover is yet another example of the way Israeli occupation displaces us, divorces us from our basic rights of mobility and autonomy, and enforces a divisive view of human interaction that perverts the Word of God and the love and compassion it calls us to.We request the solidarity of churches in the international community: to support us, to intervene in this latest encroachment on Beit Sahour and prevent it from continuing, and to speak out against the occupation in all such instances. We ask individuals and communities worldwide to contact Israeli officials and condemn their actions, to write the mayor of Beit Sahour and express support, and engage in other such forms of outreach and network-building. As we make these requests, we quote again from the Kairos Document itself to remind ourselves and each other of what is at stake and what we must call for:

“Our connectedness to this land is a natural right. It is not an ideological or theological question only…[w]e suffer from the occupation of our land because we are Palestinians.”

And finally: “We also declare that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is a sin against God and humanity because it deprives the Palestinians of their basic human rights, bestowed by God…and distort[s] the divine image in the human beings living under both political and theological injustice.”

Please join Kairos Palestine in condemning these shameful events in Beit Sahour and working to restore the justice that is both our calling and our right.

We ask you to call and write to Israeli officials in order to protest this action, call upon them to stop the construction of the watchtower, prevent settlers from attacking the park, and cease any idea of building a settlement in the site.

Kairos Palestine is a group of Palestine Christians who authored “A Moment of Truth” – Christian Palestinian’s word to the world about the occupation of Palestine, an expression of hope and faith in God, and a call for solidarity in ending over six decades of oppression – and published it in 2009.

As we prepare for Holy Week and Easter, join me in listening to the Lenten texts through the stories of the "living stones" -- the Christians, Jews and Muslims living in the ancient land of Palestine who are working to bring the good news of peace to that land today. The lessons are from the Revised Common Lectionary: www.alentengeography.blogspot.com

Stories from Israel and Palestine...

from peacemakers on the ground, who are working to end the injustice of Israel’s occupation and bring peace to their land. Stories to help Americans, who, like me, have not understood what is really happening—in the words of one Jewish grandmother I met, "for my children and grandchildren."

A Lenten Geography, Meditations for Lent, 2014

As we prepare for Holy Week and Easter, join me in listening to the texts for the Sundays in Lent through the stories of the "living stones"—the Christians, Jews and Muslims living in the ancient land of Palestine who are working to bring the good news of peace to that land today. The lessons are from the Revised Common Lectionary.

About Me

When I first traveled to Israel and Palestine in June, 2005, with Pastor Paul Rowold, I met Israelis and Palestinians and heard their stories about how difficult their lives have become under Israel's occupation and I witnessed all the ways they are bringing hope to their communities.
When I asked what I could to, they told me "Tell our stories." They were convinced that if the American people knew what was happening to them, their lives would be different.
I returned to visit with Israeli and Palestinian peace groups in June, 2008, and I have been the co-leader for two pilgrimage groups to the Holy Land in 2008 and 2009. In May-June 2010, I traveled with a Compassionate Listening delegation. Again, the Palestinians and the Jewish Israelis I met asked me to tell their stories of despair and hope—and about their work to build their communities and create a future of hope for their children. I have made two more trips—in 2011 and again this past fall,2013, with Interfaith Peace-builders. In the picture above, I'm protesting the occupation of Palestine by standing with the Women in Black at one of Jerusalem's busiest intersections in June, 2008.